For the Love of Zombies
by PsychoTyco
Summary: The Green Flu has turned everything upside down, especially the lives of Katherine Miller and Alexandrea Strickland, who have had it out for each other since middle school. The girls are forced to rely on one another if they have any hopes of getting through this zombie apocalypse alive, and they're not alone.
1. Frienemies

**A/N: Okay, soo I love L4D, and I've been reading fanfics non-stop for a week or so, and wanted to throw my own out there. This fic could go in all sorts of directions, I've been brainstorming for a few days and I'm really excited to see how things turn out. R&amp;R, Lovelies!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Left 4 Dead, sadly.**

**Chapter 1 - Frienemies**

"Coast is clear!" Kat declared proudly, after smashing in another Infected's head with her trusty baseball bat. She clutched the bat's handle with one hand and wiped her forehead with the back of her other, grinning at her zombie-killing progress. '_James and Nikki would be so proud!'_ The thought of her two best friends made her smile falter. She hadn't heard anything about either of the two since the infection started.

'_Stupid zombie apocalypse.'_

Ali peered around the corner. "Are you sure? If I get my face eaten in the dressing room, it all falls on you, Freakazoid." Walking over to some shirts, she started browsing. "Honestly, I get my pick of anything in the store and I have to spend the moment with _you_," she made a face at the last word.

"Yeah yeah, whatever, Queen Bee. Just pick something suitable for the occasion. No mini-skirts or bedazzled blouses." Of all of the people it could havebeen, she just had to get stuck with Alexandrea Strickland. The world really_ was_ going to shit. They'd been bickering the whole way down the strip mall, getting much-needed supplies. They came across the Hollister store and Ali had _insisted_ they go inside.

"How about this?"

Kat turned around and her brows shot up. "Really? I thought I said no bedazzles."

"These aren't bedazzles, these are SEQUINS. Have you no class?" Ali huffed and shoved the blouse back onto the rack. She resumed her search.

"No, not anymore, since the school has been overrun with zombies. The universe must not have wanted us to graduate." Her comment began in a snarky tone, but as she finished the last sentence, a real disappointment set in. She can kiss that cap and gown goodbye.

She found a long-sleeved, skin-tight navy shirt, a black half-sleeve zip-up jacket, jeans, and a pair of comfortable brown leather boots that went almost to her knees. "This is decent." She glanced over at Ali and asked, "Got anything yet?"

"Not anything that the both of us agree on." Ali frowned at the selection in front of her. Why did she have to be so picky? After a couple minutes, she found herself with clothes thrown over her head. She pulled them off of her and glared at the guilty Kat, who just shrugged and walked over to the dressing room, pointing inside.

"Change into that. I'll guard the door, and you do the same for me when I change after."

"Fine. You'd better not let anything eat me." She hurried into the changing room and shut the door. She took off her shirt and skirt she'd been wearing and got into the clothes Kat had given her. Glancing into the full-size mirror she realized it didn't look too bad. She took a moment to take in her appearance, distraught that she hadn't been able to bring her makeup bag. She realized that she was almost the opposite of Kat, who was a short, long-haired ginger with bright green eyes. She herself was tall, with gray eyes and black straight hair to her shoulders, and her skin was tanned from going to the tanning bed. The outfit was just a green jacket over a pink long-sleeve shirt, with jeans and the same boots as Kat but in black instead of brown. Kat's voice snapped her out of her mirror-gazing. "What?"

"I said are you dressed yet? I need to change now so we can get the hell out of here."

The door opened and Ali stepped out, getting a nod of approval from Kat, who switched her places. Kat shut the door behind her and started getting changed. Ali picked up the bat and kept watch.

"You know how to use that, right Ali?" A snicker followed the comment from behind the dressing room door.

"Yes, I can use a bat. Can you zip up that jacket?"

"You've seen my style, zippers are my specialty!" Kat stated smugly as she zipped up the current topic of their discussion.

"Too many zippers for my taste, but whatever floats your warped boat."

The door flew open then, and Kat walked out. "Ready to go?" She picked up her backpack and headed for the exit, with Ali on her heels. She had no idea where they'd be going, so she just headed down a familiar, residential street, hoping to find a place to crash before they started for out of town the next day.

This was going to be _fun_. Not.


	2. Shelter

**A/N: Here's another chapter! They will just be posted randomly, hopefully at least one a week, maybe more in a week. Depends on how much time I've got and what's going on, and all that. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Left 4 Dead, just my OCs.**

**Chapter 2: Shelter**

"Where are we going, Kat?"

"James' house. His dad had a gun case, hopefully it's not empty. We'll probably end up sleeping there tonight, too."

"Never thought I'd be going into that nerd's house."

Kat sighed and turned to face Ali. "Look, put aside your preppy ego for the time being and focus on just being alive, alright? It's been hard enough having only the two of us. Those weird Infected are smarter than the others, we need to be on our toes." She took a whack at a Common Infected with her bat as she walked. The residential areas weren't as packed with Infected as the public streets, surprisingly.

"Yeah, you're right. I just got into clean clothes and got slimed by a long-ass tongue. Gross." Ali tucked some of her hair behind her ear and she glanced around. They'd been attacked shortly after they left the clothing store, an Infected with a long tongue wrapping around Ali and dragging her away. If it wasn't a life or death situation, she would have laughed at the way Kat looked chasing after her, swinging the bat at the tongue once she got between Ali and the Infected.

"We'll be there soon. Just keep your eyes open." Kat started walking faster, since it was beginning to get darker outside. She didn't know how well the Infected could see in the dark, but she couldn't see worth crap.

The girls stopped when they heard a low growl. Both of them glanced around, and Ali was the first to speak up. "Whatever that was, I don't want to stick around for a meet and greet. Come on." She passed Kat and hurried forward, hoping they were getting closer to Nerd Boy's house.

Kat grabbed Ali's elbow and steered her to one of the houses. It was James' house. She led Ali up the steps and opened the front door. It was unlocked and there was a slash in the screen, so that was probably a bad sign. "Hello? Anybody home?" Of course nobody would be home just chilling in their house during an apocalypse.

There were footsteps rushing down the stairs and Kat braced herself for an attack. The Infected rounded the corner and lashed out at the redhead, who stepped forward and swung her bat at its face. The Infected fell to the ground with an agitated cry, but was silenced by Ali's boot damn-near crushing its skull.

"Nice, Ali."

"Thanks. I'm tired of these sick bastards."

"That was Mrs. Marshall," Kat sighed sadly, "I wonder where James is."

Ali began walking into the kitchen. "Probably ended up just like his mom."

"Are you _really_ saying that to me right now?" Kat stared at Ali with disbelief. "I've been saving your ass over and over again, and what have you done? Nothing but try to bring me down and just cause more drama. What more drama could there possibly be than this?" She threw her arms out, gesturing to everything around them. "There are no losers, geeks, or nerds. There are no pep squads, there are no cheer leaders or jocks and there are no prom queens! You're either Infected, not Infected, or dead. Stop acting like you're better than everyone. You're just another goddamn person."

Ali blinked, surprised for a minute, then she snapped back, "I'm not acting like I'm better than everyone I'm telling you my opinion! He probably became one of those things, you know, like most people around here? Our families? Our classmates?" She turned and started rooting through a spinney cabinet. She pulled out two cans of soup and opened them, grabbing herself a spoon. She began eating the soup, not even bothering to heat it up. She was starving.

Kat's rage dissipated just as quickly as it had come, lacking the energy to be mad anymore. She should be used to Ali by now, after dealing with her shit for years. She didn't care anymore. She grabbed the soup Ali had given her, along with a spoon, and walked upstairs. She went into James' room and sat on his bed. She, Nikki, and James had so much fun in here before all this crap went down. They'd watch movies, play video games, and even some Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh. They studied, too. Well, their parents all _thought_ they were studying. They were usually playing games instead. She started eating the soup and looked around the room from her spot on the bed. Everything was the same as she'd remembered it, but she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

There was duct tape sitting on the computer desk along with a knocked over coffee cup, a pen, and a bunch of papers. She set her soup on the night stand and rolled off the bed, landing on her feet by the desk. She sat at the chair and looked through some of the papers. There were harsh scribbles on most of the top pages. She looked at some papers underneath and they appeared to be written two weeks ago, when the Infection started spreading around like a wildfire. They were notes. Some had pictures on them, and she recognized one of the drawings as the creature that had grabbed Ali with its tongue. Next to it were a few notes accompanied by other drawings of Infected:

_Smokers cough, wheeze, and have long tongues. They separate survivors from the rest of their group. Pay attention to your crew._

_Spitters are missing their jaw and spit a green gooey acid, kill immediately on sight._

_Boomers are fat and make gurgling noises, don't attack with melee, they explode when killed. Their bile attracts hordes. Keep your distance from this one._

_Chargers are big guys with a large arm, if you hear him yelling don't stand in one place, he'll bulldoze you._

_Jockeys are annoying, cackling little guys who jump on your head and ride you over the rainbow. No, but seriously these guys do jump on you they are fucking weird._

_Hunters wear pants and a hoody with duct tape on the arms and legs. Don't usually see their faces, they have a distinguishable scream and growl, they pounce from a distance and use their claws to attack. Appears to be the only Infected to have defense reflexes, and will retreat if he knows he can't attack._

_Tanks are ginormous, either hide from it before it sees you(thought I don't really recommend that) or shoot and run. Don't shoot and stand, or you'll be shooting and flying. In a bad way._

_Witches are the embodiment of female wrath. They cry a lot, and whether or not they're manipulative bitches who lure in survivors or they really just want to be left the hell alone, nobody knows. Just stay away from them, one hit and you're down. Flashlights off. Gotta be sneaky, Charlie. Sneaky._

_Screamers are the ones in the straightjackets. If you see him, kill him, or just make sure he doesn't see you. He'll run away and scream, alerting hordes. _

_Always stay in a group. Never go out on your own!_

Kat looked up from the papers, taking in the information, she couldn't help but chuckle at the hint of humor James had managed to slip into his notes. How had he been collecting information about the Infected? She fiddled with her necklace she had on. It was one of the three pieces of the Tri-Force from the Legend of Zelda games. Nikki and James each had the other pieces. A nerdy symbol of their friendship. She took the notes and folded them up, stashing them in the pack on her back. They could come in handy, and James obviously wasn't around to object. He'd want her to have them, anyway.

Ali came up the stairs and knocked on the door. "Kat? It's starting to rain. Should we start blocking the doors and windows? We are staying here for the night, aren't we?" She had done some thinking while she was alone and figured she was being a real pain in the ass. Kat wasn't doing anything but helping her so she should step it up herself.

"Yeah, coming." Kat got up and left the room to join Ali. They went downstairs and started blocking windows with tables, dressers, book cases, etc… They'd placed a towel over Mrs. Marshall and sprayed a shit ton of air freshener in the living room, which they noticed was covered in blood and shredded walls and furniture. This must have been Zombie Mrs. Marshall's favorite room of the house, it was the only one that had taken any damage. There was blood and vomit on the floors here and there but that was about it.

"Where's that gun case you were talking about?"

"It's upstairs, let's go." Kat led Ali up the stairs and into James' parents' room. The gun case was smashed open but there was only one rifle missing. Kat handed one to Ali and took one for herself, putting the ammo boxes into her pack. "We'll have to save as many bullets as we can unless we can find more." She remembered seeing something in the notes about rooms with ammo piles and weapons. They'd have to watch out for those while they were out on the road.

"Where are we going to sleep?" Ali had been ready for bed for a while now.

"Well I know you're not going to sleep on the floor, so you can have James' bed and I'll take the floor." She felt more comfortable in his room than his parents' room. It was always weird going in there.

Ali nodded and went into James' room, sliding into the bed. "I could sleep forever after today."

"Yeah, me too." She went into the room and locked the door behind her, sliding a dresser in front of it. She didn't bother blocking the window because it was on the second floor of the house with nothing under it for Infected to climb on. She put blankets and a pillow on the floor, and lay down after turning the lights off. "Goodnight, Ali. We head out in the morning."

"Okay, 'night."

The girls slipped off into sleep, sure to be experiencing nightmares.

The figure leapt at the window to the second floor bedroom, clinging to the sill so he could open the window. He slipped inside silently and crouched in a corner, his gaze shifting from one sleeping girl to the other. He let out a very low, barely audible growl.

**A/N: Okay, so here's another one… I'm wondering if this is going too slow, or if it's not going well.. It will get better, promise! I'm just setting stuff up. The romance will be coming a little later. Leave Reviews so I know what to work on and if anyone even likes the story~ **

**P.S. I included the Screamer because I love the concept of it, I wish they still would have put it in the games, even though other specials have some characteristics or concepts of the Screamer. If you haven't read about the Screamers, go do it now! It's awesome (:**


	3. Old Friends

**Disclaimer: I do not own Left 4 Dead, sadly. **

**A/N: I'm going to try switching to different POV's, just so things don't get confusing. If it just makes things worse, let me know and I'll re-write it the way I've been writing it. Reviews are always more than welcome, Lovelies. Don't be shy!**

**Chapter 3: Old Friends**

**The Hunter's POV-**

He stayed crouched in the corner for a while longer, watching the rise and fall of the girls' chests. He scratched at the duct tape on his arms and was starting to get fidgety. Every time he went to take the tape off something in his mind screamed not to. It was this damn Infection. It was as if it was a living, breathing parasite that just crawls into the host's mind, barking out orders to eat people. Then there were the strands of the virus that caused the special infected to become what they are. Mutated freaks.

He rubbed at his stinging eyes and almost jumped when one of the girls coughed loudly and violently, pulling him away from his thoughts. They were in the territory he had claimed for his own, and they were bold enough to just fall asleep? He stiffened as the one on the floor began to roll over, but he relaxed when he realized she must still be asleep. She didn't get up, at least.

He should eat them. He really, _really_ should. Yet something was tugging on the back of his mind that was keeping him from doing anything. All he could do was sit there like a duck. A frustrated, mutated, growling duck.

**Ali's POV-**

A noise woke her, but thankfully she didn't sit up. There was something in the room with them. She _knew_ they should have blocked the window, dammit. '_Don't worry, she said. Nothing will climb the side of the house, she said. Yeah nice going, Kat.'_

She couldn't get up fast enough to attack without getting mauled by whatever it was. She had to wake Kat up. As much as it pained her to admit, Kat was much better at this whole zombie-ass-kicking thing. She did the only thing she could think of, and prayed the creature wouldn't rip her throat out for even making a peep. She coughed as loud and rough as she could, squeezing in a few realistic-sounding hacks. Playing sick to skip school and go shopping when her parents left for work really paid off in the end, didn't it?

'_Come on, Kat. Wake the hell up.'_

**Kat's POV-**

A loud cough woke her up, and she rolled over, about to sit up. She heard another noise in the room that made her stop dead. It didn't come from the bed, so it couldn't have been Ali. She turned her head towards the intruder and made sure to look like she was still sleeping, but she slowly peaked open an eye. It was dark, but the moonlight illuminated a small section of the room. All she could really see was someone—something, crouched in the corner of the room. She could see what looked like duct tape wrapped around an arm. From what she remembered from James' notes, the Hunters had duct tape on them. _'Why hasn't he done anything yet?'_

Hours went by, or it felt like hours anyway, and the Hunter was still in the room. She'd have to do something, because she knew Ali wouldn't. Hell, Ali probably woke her up on purpose. She took a deep breath, and pretended to be stretching, but she reached for her bat a few good feet away from her. She peaked up to see if she was getting close to it, but that was the wrong move to make. The Hunter saw her, and let out a screech as he leapt forward and grabbed the bat himself. He threw it out the window, keeping his glare on Kat.

She rolled over and sat up in one fluid motion, making her a bit dizzy. She backed against the wall and watched the Hunter. She couldn't see the top of his face because of the hood, but she knew he was watching her. She could feel it, and it creeped her the hell out.

The Hunter came closer cautiously. _'Is he sniffing the air?'_ He was on his hands and the balls of his feet now, leaning towards her so he could.. She was guessing so he could smell her. She tried not to make any sudden movements, and a flash of yellow caught her eye. She glanced at the chain around the Hunter's neck. From it was dangling one of the Tri-Force necklace pieces. It was James' piece. His grandma's Chihuahua had gotten ahold of it last Christmas and chewed on it, and the bite marks were there. Her eyes widened and she reached out towards the Hunter's hood, causing him to flinch back barely and bare his sharp teeth. She ignored him and grabbed the hood, pushing it off of his head with a gasp.

**Ali's POV-**

She'd been up and watching Kat with the creature. She wished the bat hadn't gone out the window, it was the only weapon in the room. The guns were in the next room over, for some stupid reason she couldn't even recall. She looked around for anything she could use, and so far her best bet would be the lamp on the night stand, though she knew it would break if she bashed him on the head with it. _'Please don't eat Kat, please Mr. Zombie don't eat Kat.'_ If he ate Kat, then she'd be doomed. She saw the expression on Kat's face switch from fear to one of bewilderment. She couldn't believe her eyes, Kat was reaching out towards the hood! _'What in the hell are you thinking?' _

Ali's eyes went wide after the hood was down, just as Kat's did. It was James. She was right, he did turn into one of those things. He looked different from the rest though. Her thoughts were cut short when Kat leaned in and wrapped her arms around him. James' face was puzzled, like he didn't remember who she was, or why she was hugging him. He was clearly just as confused as Ali was. So confused, in fact, that he wasn't attacking her. This whole thing was so weird. He was one of them, but he was acting different. She took this as an opportunity to grab the lamp and she got out of the bed, stepping towards Kat and Hunter!James.

**Kat's POV-**

'_It's James!' _His eyes were terribly bloodshot and watery, but it made the blue of his eyes shine brighter. She didn't even care if he would eat her face, she was just happy to see him. Infected or not. So far he hadn't done anything, right? She flung her arms around him and held on for dear life, her eyes getting watery. She felt like a sap right now. She was being dramatic, surely. Still, she couldn't help herself. He was like her brother, and she'd already lost the rest of her family. She took it as a good sign that he wasn't slashing her in half with those claws on the tips of his fingers though. She had so many questions for him that had just sprung up within the last few hours, but would she even be able to ask him? He probably couldn't even talk.

She heard Ali walk up behind James, and saw she had a lamp held over her head. Ali said, "Kat, I don't know what's going on here exactly, but you need to get away from Zombie!James, like right now."


End file.
